Four golden rules to manage your budget

The next time you are asked why you are hot like the embers, you will answer “I just did my accounts !��

How to do your accounts as a professional in a few seconds !

In my career in financial education, there is a fundamental point which is regularly recalled by the pros in the sector: to do his accounts. In the past years, I have implemented all existing techniques to manage my finances and manage a budget. My conclusion is simple: there is no perfect technique, each responds to particular characteristics.

To do your accounts is the cornerstone of personal finance for the simple reason that without forecasting the budget and without managing incoming and outgoing flows, you cannot implement any plan: you are limited to a monthly vision, the only one that is Maitizable without work.

If you have the slightest project, for example going on vacation next summer, you must in one way or another do your accounts to find out if you can or to determine how it could be possible but especially to be certain that the start of the school year will not put your holiday budget in the red.

How to do your accounts ?

Around 2000, I had been initiated into the management of my accounts with the good old method: the notebook where I noted my expenses and the pointing of the monthly statements sent by my bank. Was it funny ? No ! I have not managed to make it a lasting habit. Since then, several interesting techniques have appeared and my budget being much more flexible, I also chose a lighter operating mode.

Without spending several hours a month to do your accounts, you will discover some simple techniques to apply but do not forget that managing your budget is essential. If you end the year in the red, it’s not a good sign. Only the state or a start-up having lifted funds can afford this kind of madness. ��

In this article, I will therefore share with you everything you need to know about how to do your accounts. Why manage your accounts ? And above all, how to make it happen quickly and that it is not painful ?!

Why do your accounts ?

Rule n ° 1: If you don’t know why, it’s lost in advance. As with everything, it is more important to know the why (why do your accounts) than to focus on how and on all techniques, according to the adage “which wants to do something finds a reason; Who does not want to do anything finds an excuse “.

The why is the first key. You have to manage your personal finances well to find out where you are going. All companies have accounting, because this is a minimum condition to advance. Admittedly, the most rebellious of you will tell me “but I am not a business”. Well there, I will answer you:

Doing your accounts will allow you to feel more confident in yourself because you will have a clear vision of your situation. So, yes, it is sometimes more pleasant to live in the blur and to have the illusion that its budget does not really know any limits. If you are one of them, your case comes out of the purpose of this article. Remember, however, that taking your money in hand is crucial if you want to live a rich life.

For others, managing your accounts is good for a simple reason: it allows you to anticipate and be serene. How much is it ? I do not know. It’s like when you get sick while staying bed and you regret not having appreciated the previous days during which you sparked the shape.

Prepare the ground to invest

Beyond that, your banker will consider you more seriously. We agree that if you are on this site, it is especially because you are interested in financial independence. One of the pillars is real estate. And to invest in profitable rental real estate, you need to borrow.

You imagine what will happen in the head of your banker if you have no idea of ​​the state of your personal finances ? If you are serious with your money, your banker will be with you. And then veil your face thinking of living in bisounours land will not be of service.

The painful part

If by reading this title, you made the grimace, another effort ! Because in reality it doesn’t need to be painful, as I announced above you. I will not use the argument which consists in saying that It will only take you 10 minutes per week. But in reality, once the process is inverted, it will be practically the case (you see, painless !)).

If you do not like to do your accounts, so you will simply have to change your habits and your state of mind. And for that, you must find yourself only one good reason to do your accounts so that it becomes a habit and even a necessity. If having money is a motivation, be more precise. The more precisely you know the reason that pushes you to act, the more it will make sense to you.

Do you want examples ?

• offer my family a beautiful house
• We pay a great vacation
• Prove to my banker that I know how to take care of my money
• Pay the best possible studies for my children
• Go to the restaurant every week without jumping the dessert because it is too expensive
• be able to have a healthy diet with the best products on the market

Managing your money allows you to choose your priorities. What’s yours ?

What makes you choose to take care of your money instead of an activity you do today ?

Do not jump this rule lightly, it is the most important.

Here is what to manage your personal finances does not mean:

• Connect every day, anxious, on your bank’s website to “see where it is”,
• Note all your expenses on a small notebook (next step: suicide while listening to Justin Bieber in a loop),
• have an Excel file with the family budget over the past 10 years,
• Check your expenses like Picsou,
• Let the bank ‘letters accumulate in a special “later” battery.

Managing your finances is being able to:

• See your car broke down and have a philosopher smile that says “sometimes these things happen” without worrying about how you will pay,
• Consult your accounts and have an adrenaline push by seeing the staggering amount of your savings; This changes you from the time you were wondering to get to have € 1,000 aside,
• Pay cash a significant expense as a contribution to your home, a wedding or a beautiful trip without any guilt.

Enjoy doing your accounts

And then nothing prevents a pleasant moment from it, quite the contrary ! Imagine you woke up one morning with the desire to do your accounts ? Would you be sick ? Should we consult an anti-capitalist friend as soon as possible ?

The key is that managing your money should be pleasant. It is your future that it is. Of your first step towards financial independence.

Without that, it is as if you are going to go to the dentist every week or as if you were to declare your income every month. Yuck!

And you know what ?

It is you who decide whether it is pleasant or not.

Exactly, you can decide that it’s a nice moment. Gather good conditions. Make good music. Plan a pleasant activity to do afterwards and do it !

The next time you are asked why you are hot like the embers, you will answer “I just did my accounts !��

It is when you see, every month, your savings increase and you can consider future projects, investments and great adventures that you know that your money is under control.

The method I apply to make my accounts

I tested lots of methods that I will share you below so that you can also test them if you wish. Because the important thing is to find the system that suits you. For my part, I ended up opting for a system that allows me to manage without complicating my life. I even created a spreadsheet that you will be able to download.

Regularity

Doing your accounts is much easier when it is a regular activity. By regular, I hear every week. Every day is close to the obsession (and we should consult !) and every month is a little too spaced. Each week therefore seems to be a good pace which can easily pass every 15 days in case of unavailability. It is a question of finding the frequency adapted to your pace. Too frequently will be ineffective, too little risk of making you forget the procedure. To support this activity, define processes around to support you: book a moment on Friday evening, on weekends or during the week to perform this update.

Speed

No more than 30 minutes per week (we are talking about management of your accounts, we agree ;-)). Managing your money should not take you time. You already miss it. And at the same time, you must devote time to your money. Imagine the following situation: you see a couple at a table not far from you. One tells each other “but prove to me that you love me!”And the other answers:” But I love you, it doesn’t see ?».

Love does not exist. Only love proofs are visible. And if you don’t need to be in love with your money, show him at least that he counts for you by devoting him a little time.

The vast majority of people have one or two sources of income and dozens of expenditure sources. It is quite possible to update all this in a few minutes. To facilitate this task nothing beats storage of tickets and other supporting documents. I will not go so far as to classify these supporting documents by category (unless you receive more than 50 per week). Just find a box or a place to store what will be used to do your accounts. Define your monitoring method allowing you to follow your expenses, your income and to arbitrate all this in a few minutes. Update your accounts must take 15 to 30 minutes each week.

Heritage

A great thing that motivates me to do my accounts is to see the effects on my heritage. The file I offer takes these aspects into account. Thus, each month depending on the difference between all income and all expenses, heritage grows or shrinks. The file offers a simple projection of the monthly result.

Four golden rules to manage your budget

To easily manage its budget and keep it balanced, a few simple rules can be applied.

Put aside the sums corresponding to the fixed loads and pay them at the beginning of the month

When a big due date Sleeks, be sure to put aside a part of the sum as a month in order to have it when you have to settle it. Adjust all your fixed charges without delay. Otherwise take the lead to examine the problem with your creditor or your banker.

Be careful, if you use credit, Whatever its form, do not forget to register reimbursements as a new fixed load, And adapt, if necessary, your other expenses.

Plan occasional expenses as much as possible

Constitute reservations or adjust these expenses according to the unexpected.

Note and control expenses

Do your accounts regularly, at least once a month by helping you bank account statements.

Keep proof of payments !

This elementary rule is frequently forgotten. Yet by keeping your cash receipts, bank card and carefully filling your checks with checks you can always check that no sum was wrongly invoiced to you. If you have a doubt or do not remember an expenditure on your account statement, you should find it among these documents. Otherwise you can contest this expense by being sure of you. Finally, by keeping these documents, you are more easily aware of the expenses that you already made, which will allow you to know a priori if you can afford or not.

For further

23 comments on “four golden rules to manage your budget”

Being an accountant, I have long established myself a forecast Excel table with debit, credit and balance columns which also serve as a banking rapprochement; I register monthly in advance all the charges (rent, telephone, credits and other levies) in the debit column and income in the credit column according to the dates planned.
I know where I am and how much I have liquidity to finish the month (consider an overdraft request to the bank to soften a possible exceeding without excess in the event of unforeseen expenses).
I regularly consult my bank account online and integrate or modify the amount of the samples previously registered on the Excel table.

Good morning,
I find it really good, would it be possible to share your blank file ? thank you
Have a good day

The Lafinancepourtous Team.com said:

Hello, you can also find on our site several tools to manage your budget, in Excel spreadsheet version (https: // www.Lafinancepourtous.com/html/img/xls/iefp_pointbudget.xls) or in budget calculator format (https: // www.Lafinancepourtous.com/Tools/calculators/Budget-Simple/calculator/. Best greetings the Lafinancepourtous team.com

Yes if we do a budget we are more dummy to buy if we need anything..
The IEFP team said:

Hello, could you be more explicit in terms of the date of arrest you mention ? THANKS. Best regards
The Lafinancepourtous Team.com

Good morning ,
Thank you for your help, since January I have managed effectively,
But the date of decree is the 15th of the month,
And to manage my budget more easily, I need a decree date on the 31st of the month,
How to get it ?
THANKS

The IEFP team said:

Hello, we cannot help you on this point otherwise you advise you to use our computer, for example: http: // www.Lafinancepourtous.com/calculators/Budget/Best regards. The Lafinancepourtous Team.com

I am my expenses regularly thanks to a spreadsheet integrating macros that I made myself. But this tool allows me to sort my expense by categories and to see my overrun each time. I can follow my expenses but not control them. Can I send you my file to see what is wrong ?